'Congress helped Mamata become a Union Min': Adhir Chowdhury flays TMC's Goa polls entry

Accusing TMC of "indirectly backing" BJP in Goa polls due early next year, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that Mamata Banerjee was inducted into the Union Cabinet at the behest of Congress. Speaking to the media on Friday, he contended that the TMC supremo was exploiting her old connections with Congress to undermine the party. According to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, BJP would end up as the biggest beneficiary of Banerjee's attempt to forge a nationwide alliance of regional parties. On this occasion, he exuded confidence in his party performing well in the Goa polls. 

Congress leader remarked, "She is now exploiting her relationship with Congress workers and leaders of various states. Because once upon a time, with the grace of Rajiv Ji, she had become a national leader and a Central Union Minister. So naturally, by the grace of Congress and the time she had enjoyed a political bond which is now being exploited by her to undermine the Congress party. Under the guise of opposing the Congress party, she has been extending all her cooperation to BJP in reality. The fact is that due to Mamata Banerjee's effort of demolishing Congress, BJP will end up as the greatest beneficiary." 

"Mamata Banerjee is making way for BJP in Goa. She is indirectly supporting them. BJP will benefit from the formation of this federal front. She thinks that Congress will not perform in Goa, but has forgotten that Congress helped her become a Central minister," he added. 

TMC-Congress tussle 

After a hard-fought election campaign, TMC sprung a surprise by decisively winning the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election by bagging 213 seats whereas BJP could win in only 77 constituencies. Buoyed by its third consecutive victory, TMC is mulling projecting Mamata Banerjee as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Making her national ambitions clear, Banerjee propagated the West Bengal model of governance in her Martyrs' Day rally speech on July 21. Thereafter, she visited Delhi and met various opposition leaders including Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

In an attempt to expand its base across the country, TMC has increased its political activities in Tripura and Goa aimed at emerging as an alternative to Congress. However, the party has riled Congress in the process by inducting many of its leaders such as Sushmita Dev, Abhijit Mukherjee, Kirti Azad, Ashok Tanwar and former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro. Incensed by the growing political capital of TMC, Congress recently accused TMC of indirectly helping BJP by dividing the secular votes. During her Mumbai visit on December 1, she created a flutter in the Congress camp by asserting that "there is no UPA anymore",